After a year, I finally made it

[DreadMan]

I finally got to make the insect aquarium of my dreams. The amount of movement and life inside it is astounding, and the fact that it only took 5 scoops of a cup to make is crazy

 

[JonnyTorch]

What's all in there?

 

[DreadMan]

What's all in there?

Most of it is baby water boatmen and water beetles, but there are a few adults as well. The others include backswimmers, dragonfly and damselfly larvae and a common crawfish. I wish I had found a water scorpion or a giant water bug to be the main predators but oh well. I also think there might be a few fish and tadpoles.

 

[me and my Ts]

That’s awesome! I’ve been wanting to do that but haven’t found a good spot

 

[Ajohnson5263]

do you have a filter or bubbler running in there?

 

[DreadMan]

A small update on the environment, it’s been around a year since the pond has been made. The only thing I’ve done to it since it was first created is add water and a little floating island with mud and plants on it. Around two weeks ago is when this thing really started to bloom with life as plants started to grow from the bottom of the tank. The baby fishes at this point had grown up and had started to breed, and a tiny species of water beetle that I had never seen before emerged from the little island I placed there. The two larger water beetles I had in there are still alive but to my knowledge have yet to breed or lay eggs. All three of the back swimmers sadly passed away around a month ago but there are still multiple water boatmen living and breeding. There are at least 2 ferocious water bugs in the tank and barely ever come out to be seen. I have released all of my dragonflies and damselflies from the tank. Not sure how the next couple of weeks will turn out, but I’m thinking of adding a couple features to the tank such as a above water area that I can house fishing spiders in and some hanging ivy plants that could overall lighten the mood of the place. Any idea? I would love to get some feedback as this is probably my favorite project out of the self sustaining ecosystems I have. Also, I need some help identifying these tiny little creatures that I see under the microscope.

 

[DreadMan]

Here’s the small thing I was talking bout

 

[Gilligan]

Here’s the small thing I was talking bout View attachment 446256

Maybe a Copepoda Calanoida?

 

[The Snark]

@DreadMan Dr. Theodore Stephanides would be proud of you. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theodore_Stephanides
A book he once gave to Gerald Durrell: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/33265260-life-in-ponds-and-streams